019 755 388 1 



U^lUnrr^^r CnrO. 



Compliments op 
CHARLES W. DABNEY, 



The Unity of the University 

Outline of an Address at the Celebration 

of the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the 

Cincinnati Law School (University of 

Cincinnati), June 5, 1908 

By Charles William Dahney 



w- 



Gift . 



The Unity of the University. 



The germ idea in the university is unity. The first univer- 
sities were societies of scholars banded together for the purpose 
of study and teaching — "Universitates magistrorum et schola- 
rium," their founders called them with great pride — united 
societies of masters and pupils, unions of schools to assist and 
protect each other in their rights. 

The early universities were the first democratic societies, the 
first free societies formed in Europe during the second half of the 
Middle Ages. During the whole of the first part of this period 
men had been absorbed in looking back to the ancient world. At 
the end of the eleventh century they began to look forward to the 
future, to think and build for themselves; out of this mighty 
intellectual revolution the universities were born, and with them 
the modern period of liberty and learning. 

As in their inception, the universities in their development 
have always represented the social necessities and the historical 
conditions of the times. Born with single faculties, as of the- 
ology at Paris, and of law at Bologna, they soon gathered to- 
gether all the schools representing the learned professions of the 
times. The first four faculties of the historic university were 
those of philosophy, theology, medicine, and law. Representing 
the necessities of the new times, our modern university has added 



a faculty of engineering and omitted, from the public institutions 
at least, that of theology. In all the centuries the university 
has been the chief expression of the needs of the higher life. 

First of all, then, certain intrinsic conditions transform this 
outward co-ordination of the university into an organic unity ; 
a unity founded in the common object of all the schools, the 
development of man and the improvement of human life through 
scientific study and professional practice. From both the his- 
torical and philosophical point of view, it is right, therefore, that 
all those whose studies have a common center of interest, the 
pursuit of knowledge, and who in later life must meet every- 
where in the pursuit of a common service, should, while in the 
university, learn to know each other and to feel the mutuality of 
all their interests. To this end a number of things in the uni- 
versity contribute : 

First : The investigators and teachers of all the faculties are 
organized in a homogeneous body, giving expression to the unity 
of the sciences, as well as their common purpose, to develop 
human life. The intercourse of specialists in the different de- 
partments has a broadening influence and is a great incentive. 
Philologist and philosopher, lawyer and physician, literary man 
and engineer, mutually influence one another and each challenges 
the other to look beyond the limits of his own science and to 
search for the universal and ultimate truth. The friendships of 
great scholars and scientific men have, as we know, been fruitful 
of splendid results. 

On the other hand, it is well known that isolated professional 
schools produce narrow theologians, empirical physicians, me- 
chanical lawyers. There can be no doubt that the Reformation, 
the beginning of all of our liberty, was the product of the mutual 



influence of the students and professors of Erfurt and Wit- 
tenberg. A Luther could never have been born from a sectarian 
theological seminary. His historic protest, nailed to the church 
door, was the result of his free studies, in the universities. 

This leads me to remark that the intercourse between the 
united schools is not less significant to the students than to the 
teachers. Though the different faculties be independent and co- 
ordinate, the intermingling and over-lapping of the courses can 
only be very beneficial to the students. Union facilitates the 
studies of all and makes easy the transfer of students from one 
faculty to another. The unity of the university, by inviting 
inspection and advice between the professors and teachers of the 
several colleges, makes it possible to see and correct mistakes. 
^Social intercourse between students is in many cases the best part 
of college life, and the acquaintances made in college are not only 
beneficial at the time, but helpful in after life. ' It is in this way 
fraternities become more useful and friendships are cemented 
between the men of the different colleges that bring ever more 
power and pleasure with the years. Thus the unity of university 
education tends to give to the educated classes of the country 
that feeling of solidarity which is the beginning of democracy 
and the hope of brotherhood. A perfect democratic microcosmos, 
the modern university represents thus both the unity of the peo- 
ple and the leadership of the intellect. It is the very heart of 
the Republic and the foundation of advancement in government 
and industry, as well as in science and learning. 

Secondly : The unity of the university is of vast importance, 
not only for the internal life of the teachers and students, but in 
the external position and value of an institution. The influence 
of the united faculties and* student bodies is incomparably greater 



than that of any single school. The university gives to every 
faculty and to every individual professor and student a distinct 
consciousness of relation and duty to the public, exalting ideals 
and increasing their courage. The graduate feels, the moment 
he enters on active work, that he belongs to a great fraternity, 
with its own historical life and its own principles and traditions, 
to direct and support him throughout his career. This gives the 
man not only learning and power, but also direction and steadi- 
ness in public service. The true university produces thus an 
esprit de corps which asserts itself against all bad causes and 
constantly extends its benign influence throughout the state. In 
Cincinnati we have a noble illustration of this. Everyone familiar 
with our recent civic development, and particularly with the ad- 
mirable work of the various civic clubs and organizations of busi- 
ness and professional men, can testify to the fine influence exerted 
in them by the graduates of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, and 
our other universities, great and small The up- 
building, the development of our public works and of our educa- 
tional system, the beautification of our city, as well as the estab- 
lishment of good government and civic righteousness in Cincin- 
nati, will be largely the work of our college men. In this man- 
ner Cincinnati harvests the fruits of the work of the colleges all 
over the country. We give those colleges our thanks. But it 
would surely be ignoble for Cincinnati to depend upon other peo- 
ple and institutions to educate all her civic workers. We can not 
send all our youth away to college, and we owe a duty to the 
rest of the country. For this reason, if for no other, Cincinnati 
must have her own university to do its share of this work of 
training citizens for the service of her own community and of the 
whole Republic. 



All institutions exist for the advancement of mankind. They 
are the agents that carry the world along in the great evolutionary 
process. The true university exists for life, the life of the living 
present and the life of the future. It is not for pleasure, or 
even for culture or art merely, but for the advancement of the 
life of men. The old classical college was composed of a com- 
pany of scholars that lived in a cloister within a wall and invited 
a few select young men to come and study with them. The true 
university welcomes every soul who needs its help and can use it. 
The old college taught its students certain philosophies and the- 
ologies for the purpose of making them- agents for their propa- 
ganda. The university is a place where "any man or woman can 
study anything," in preparation for service in the world. 

Now isolated professional schools are even more sterile than 
the literary colleges. They have no college spirit and, therefore, 
develop no public spirit in their students. Society in them is too 
limited, the point of view too narrow, the course too cramping, 
the contact too little, with the result that the students are swal- 
lowed up in the city and have no life of their own. Only in a 
true university can there be that development of ideas in common 
which gives the soul of the corporation the distinctive character 
and the reproductive instinct of the true organism. 

What, finally, is our conception of the university? It is as 
the brain of the body politic, made up, indeed, of several parts 
with different functions, but all working together for the good 
of the whole body. One part is designed to stimulate the intel- 
lectual life, another the political life, and still another the indus- 
trial life, but as the body, which they serve, is one, so these 
organs are one. The true university is, thus, the one great stimu- 



lating and directing organ of the complete organism we call 
society. 

Applying these principles, now, to our own institution, I 
think we may congratulate ourselves on the progress already 
made in its unification. In fact, the University of Cincinnati has 
been made up almost entirely of parts at one time separate, and 
the present prosperity of its colleges is an illustration of the 
power that comes through union. The Cincinnati College and 
Law School, whose anniversary we celebrate today, the Ohio 
Medical College, the Astronomical Society and the McMicken 
College, now the heart of the University, were all, at one time, 
separate institutions, and all have done noble service for this 
community. Fortunately we now have the laws under which we 
can get the means to give a physical expression to this unity. Let 
us rejoice in the union of these colleges, and expect still more 
splendid results from their association in the University. In this 
sincere faith and this assured hope, let us all labour to build up 
each of our constituent colleges, and to unite them perfectly in 
one noble University, which shall become the head of the indus- 
trial and social, the educational and intellectual life of this great 
citv. 



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